Man ‘rapes 62-year-old vegetable vendor, stabs her to death’, arrested

A 30-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly raping a 62-year-old vegetable vendor inside her house and stabbing her to death. The incident took place in East Delhi on Sunday. Police said the accused was identified using CCTV footage and an initial probe revealed that he allegedly stabbed the victim 25 times to ensure his crime was never detected.

DCP (East district) Priyanka Kashyap said, “We have registered an FIR of murder after we received a complaint from the victim’s son and arrested the accused, identified as Vipin Dedha. Prime facie, it appears to be a case of sexual assault.”

Police said the victim lived with her son, who works as a security guard, and her nephew. “The incident came to light on Sunday afternoon when the victim’s son came back from work and found her lying in a pool of blood. He immediately informed police, who rushed to the spot along with forensic experts. The victim’s throat was slit with a sharp-edged weapon and multiple sharp injuries were found on her stomach,” said a senior police officer.

During investigation, police came to know that the victim was at her shop along with her nephew before she came home around 12 pm to cook. “Police checked all CCTV cameras in the locality; footage from one camera showed the accused. With the help of local beat staff, they identified and arrested him on Sunday evening,” an officer said.

During questioning, the accused told police that he first allegedly raped the victim and then stabbed her multiple times to mislead police. “He was apprehended due to sincere efforts put in by the SHO and beat staff in particular, who worked out the case within a very short time span of a few hours (4-5 hours) using technical inputs and human intelligence. During questioning, he admitted to have committed the offence. The weapon knife used in commission of the crime has been recovered,” Kashyap said.